1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus which is connected to an analog public line (PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network) or a digital public line (ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network) and has a function to access a server through the Internet.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, ISDN and the Internet have become remarkably widespread, whereby a home page is downloaded and an electronic mail (called an E-mail hereinafter) is sent/received by accessing a server from a terminal such as a personal computer (called a PC hereinafter) through the Internet.
Such a use of the Internet is not limited to the PC, i.e., an application by which an image to be sent by FAX (facsimile) is sent through the Internet has been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-325924 (EP 0 812 100 A2) proposes that image data read out by a facsimile apparatus is converted to TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) data and sent as an E-mail.
A conventional method of sending an E-mail by using the facsimile apparatus will be explained hereinafter.
First, a user sets an original (or a document sheet) to be sent on an original mounting board, and inputs a password to select a user name for which the user himself has been registered. Next, the user selects from a destination table a destination to which the original is to be sent, and depresses a start key after depressing an abbreviation number key or depresses a one-touch key.
A communication terminal apparatus T reads the original on the original mounting board one by one, causes a coder/decoder to once encode all the pages of the original in an MMR (Modified Modified READ) method to obtain G3-format image data, and then stores the obtained G3-format image data in an image memory. The communication terminal apparatus reads out the destination designated by an abbreviation number or a one-touch dial number, from the destination table. If an Internet E-mail address of the destination is not registered in the destination table, G3 or G4 facsimile sending is executed. Conversely, if the Internet E-mail address has been registered, a process to send an E-mail is executed.
When the image data is sent as an E-mail, the G3-format image data is subjected to TIFF conversion and then sent. In such a TIFF conversion process, header information of TIFF Class F is added to the head of the G-3 format image data, thereby forming TIFF image data. Since the TIFF image data is binary data, this binary data is further converted into text data.
Then, a mail editing unit adds a header of the E-mail to the TIFF image data converted into the text data.
If the data of the E-mail format is completed, dial-up connection is executed to the Internet. If a telephone line to a provider is established, the communication terminal apparatus logs in according to a PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) procedure and sends the E-mail according to an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) procedure. After the E-mail was sent, the communication terminal apparatus logs off, whereby the telephone line is released.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-247334 proposes that it is automatically judged whether an original to be sent should be actually sent as an E-mail or facsimile. In this application, it is judged on the basis of a kind of number or symbol registered on an abbreviation dial key or a one-touch dial key whether such number or symbol represents an E-mail address or a facsimile number, and thus optimum sending is executed.
In the former conventional example as before-mentioned, when the sending process is executed by depressing the abbreviation number key or the one-touch key, it is determined whether the data should be sent as the E-mail or the facsimile according to whether or not the E-mail address has been registered for the abbreviation number key or the one-touch key.
In the latter conventional example, when the sending process is executed by depressing a start key, it is determined whether the data should be sent as the E-mail or the facsimile on the basis of the kind of information registered on the abbreviation dial key or the one-touch dial key.
In these examples, such a problem as follows has happened.
Recently, a case where an individual has both an E-mail reception means and a facsimile reception means has increased. Therefore, even if information is sent to an identical destination, both a case to send the information by the E-mail and a case to send the information by the facsimile may arise according to a type of the information to be sent of a sending time.
In the conventional facsimile apparatus, in case of flexibly switching a sending method to the identical destination between the E-mail and the facsimile, it is necessary to allocate the E-mail and the facsimile respectively to different abbreviation dial keys or one-touch dial keys.
As a result, it is necessary to prepare a lot of abbreviation number keys and/or one-touch keys, whereby there has been a problem that the number of destinations capable of being registered decreases.